"I couldn't believe it. I was on my way to church
and I had just parked my car when six boys, very young boys, just came
to me and started ordering me to come with them.
"I told them to take it easy, that I would
do what they say, and they took me to their car, blindfolded me and
drove away. I asked where we were going, and they said Port Harcourt,
then Benin, then Asaba.
Instead, when they took off the blindfold, we were in a forest. That night, I slept on the ground.
"But they were very nice to me. They didn't
touch me. They didn't take any of my jewellery or wallet or anything
else. We were just talking like old friends. They assured me that
nothing would happen to me.
"I even prayed with them. Then the next
morning, they started to move again. It was later that I discovered that
it was because the whole state had been covered by security operatives.
They told me all the roads, even the rivers and creeks were being
watched by security." Click to continue reading.....
"They said it was somebody close to me who set everything up. Someone that I have been helping.
They said the person told them I would be
in that church by 8am that morning. I couldn't believe it. But they
asked how they would know my movement to go and wait for me there. I
didn't know what to say."
Most kidnappings take at least a week to resolve, but one day was all it took in this case, and Obodo played his part.
"Five of them left to go and get the money,
leaving me with one of them. But he later said we had to leave this
place because the area was being monitored. He told me to promise him
that I would not shout or run away. I told him I'd been cooperating
since they took me and since they had promised to release me that day, I
would do what he said.
"When we got to the town, he got a call informing him that two or three of them had been captured.
"I heard the other one telling him to take me back and tie me up in the forest.
"At that point, I told myself I wasn't
going back into that forest. So I told him that it's possible his people
wanted to betray him, that they may have taken the money and run. I
asked him to let me call my people to find out if the money had been
picked up.
"He agreed, but said he did not have credit
on his phone, so we would have to walk back into the village to buy
airtime. As we were walking back to the village, we saw a group of
people sitting around, so we stopped to ask for a recharge card. They
said they didn't have it there.
"He now said we should move on to the next
place. At that point, I pushed him and started running and screaming
that I am Chris Obodo and that they should help. The people immediately
gathered. Luckily, they also had some vigilante people around, they call
them Black Beret, and they came and got me.
"The police were also nearby, because they
had been tracking them through the phonecalls. That was when I started
crying and giving thanks to God. That is how I got out."
Despite the trauma, Obodo says he has no
immediate plans to stop returning home to Warri: "It won't stop me from
going to Warri. That is where I have lived all my life. I'm a Warri boy
and it's not like I go out anyhow. Whenever I come home, I play
football, three-a-side, in my compound with my friends, I don't go out
clubbing like I used to when I was much younger, so why should I stop
coming?"
He did, however, admit that the experience will leave scars.
"When something like this happens, you learn a lot. It opened my eyes to a lot of things."
Obodo said he is grateful for the
groundswell of support. "I just want to thank everybody. My family got a
lot of calls, a lot of support, and we just want to thank everyone."
The Delta State Governor, Emmanuel
Uduaghan, has ordered 24-hours security for Obodo throughout the
duration of his vacation in the state.
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